


The Siren Song of You

by FannyT



Series: Ficlet Instruments 2019 [7]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Ficletinstruments, Gen, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Week Seven - Underwater Meeting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-08-30
Packaged: 2020-09-30 17:36:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20450960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FannyT/pseuds/FannyT
Summary: Magnus believes, with all his heart.





	The Siren Song of You

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [sh_ficletinstruments](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/sh_ficletinstruments) collection. 

> **Prompt:**
> 
> Painting by Ian Rayer Smith.

* * *

Magnus swims carefully through tall seaweed, keeping a close lookout. It was in this region Catarina said she saw them, although Ragnor just scoffed about it when she told them afterwards. 

“They’re _myths_,” he said. “You probably just saw a manatee. You know that’s what people say started all the stories about them.” 

“Just because you want to sleep with a manatee, Ragnor…” Catarina retorted. 

That prompted the kind of snarky bickering that always followed, and Magnus left them to it. 

Today, he got up early. If there’s even a chance they’re there, he’s not going to miss them. Because no matter what Ragnor says, he believes with all his heart. 

Up ahead, something large moves. 

_Probably a seal,_ Magnus thinks, preparing himself for disappointment, but then the fronds ahead of him sweep away, and he sees it. 

A _human_.

It looks just like Catarina’s description. Magnus stares in amazement at the long hind legs with their agile flippers, the cylindrical protrusions on its back and the tubes leading from those into its face—according to the legend, that’s how they breathe. The human is moving sedately, kicking its hind legs at a leisurely pace and letting its front legs trail at its sides. 

And then, just as Magnus is about to duck behind a stone to watch without disturbing, the human turns its head and looks straight at him. 

To Magnus’ shock, what he took for a single, huge eye is some kind of visor, and eyes much like his own stare back at him. 

The human hangs in the water for a moment, and then paddles its front legs—_arms_, Magnus thinks wildly, seeing the fingers on its hands—to maneuver into a more upright position. As it does so, one of its tubes hooks onto a protruding coral and snags. 

Bubbles start spraying out of the human’s back and Magnus sees it turn, fumbling at its tubes, and then kick out, swimming upwards. Its movements are quick, panicky, but despite that, its pace is surprisingly slow. 

Without thinking about it, Magnus flips his tail fin and shoots forward, swimming quickly towards the human. It points a finger—_up_—and Magnus grabs it under its arms, propelling them both upwards with swift strokes of his tail. 

They break the surface into glittering sunshine, and the human pulls off tubes and visors and things to reveal—

A normal face. Not even that, a _beautiful_ face. Magnus stares, stunned. 

“Thank you,” the human gasps. 

“You speak my language,” Magnus says stupidly. 

The human smiles, and it transforms his face from simply beautiful to outrageously attractive. 

“You too,” he says. “And you saved my life. What’s your name?”

“Magnus. You?”

The human smiles again, and Magnus suddenly realises that what he wants to do most of all is just keep making this human smile, over and over again. 

“Alec,” the human says.


End file.
